#TOOLS THAT HOLD MASONRY BITS DRIVER#

You’ve got two choices: Move the hole in a direction where you’re less likely to hit rebar, or buy or rent a specialized rebar-cutting masonry bit. It will stop a masonry bit dead in its tracks.

Sometimes, it even has embedded electrical conduit in it. Be cautious drilling concrete.Ĭoncrete has everything in it from reinforcing bars (rebar) to metal wire mesh to large pieces of stone. Take your time and work your way through. Don’t force the bit.ĭrilling in masonry is inherently slow, especially in concrete when you hit a lot of stone. Use a hammer drill set to, naturally, hammer drill mode. Yes, you can make a hole in soft masonry materials like brick using a regular drill, but it’s slow and inefficient. Here’s a list of tips to make sure you don’t. Staff Best Practicesĭrilling in masonry is simple, but there are some things you can get wrong. The screw cuts its own threads into the concrete and the fastener tightens down beautifully against the surface of whatever you needed to fasten.Ī Tapcon masonry screw is intended to be used in a hole made with its matching masonry bit.

#TOOLS THAT HOLD MASONRY BITS DRIVER#

Set the drill driver to screw-driving mode and drive the screw through the pilot hole in whatever you’re fastening to the concrete: lumber, a metal bracket, or some other fitting. Set a hammer drill to masonry-drilling mode and tighten the Tapcon bit in the chuck. It’s intended to be used with a precisely sized matching masonry bit. The Tapcon (for Tapping Concrete) is a hardened steel screw. But you don’t have to be an old timer (like me, ahem) to welcome the Tapcon. Drill a hole, clean it out, drive the screw. If you’re old enough to have fastened to concrete using a variety of the systems that preceded the Tapcon era, such as lead plugs and anchors that wedged themselves into the hole, you appreciate the beautiful simplicity of these things. It was in America’s bicentennial year, 1976, when Illinois Tool Works (ITW) patented what went on to become one of the most productive fastener systems ever invented, the Tapcon masonry screw and matching masonry drill bit. Staff The Famous TapconĪll those are good for creating the hole, but then comes the fastening. Simply insert the bit in the drill’s chuck. SDS bits are meant for use in rotary hammers. Setting a rotary hammer to drill in masonry is as easy as turning its dial to the double icon that has both a drill bit and a hammer. Three-setting rotary hammers can drill, hammer drill, or move a chisel bit in a linear back-and-forth motion (obviously, never attempt to use a chisel in either hammer drill or drill mode and never use a drill bit in chisel mode). Two-setting rotary hammers can drill (in wood or steel) or drill with hammer action. Rotary hammers have two or three settings. If it doesn’t seat, turn the bit slightly (in either direction) until it does. You simply line a modern SDS bit up with the drill’s chuck and insert it.

The Americanized version of the acronym remains the same (SDS) but is understood to mean Spline Drive System or Slotted Drive System, perhaps a better description of these bits and how they are held in the chuck, not by tightening but by the slot on the end of the bit. Drill Faster and Easier With Diablo’s Stepped Bits.If, in the course of the same job, you need to punch a hole in masonry, just pop the drill bit out of your impact driver and chuck it into your hammer drill. There are better and faster ways to drill steel, and even wood, but you’ll find that an impact driver works well with these bits to make small-diameter holes in thin material. You can use them to make holes wood of any thickness, but I’ve found them to be not particularly effective in thick steel I limit their use to light-gauge metal, no more than approximately 3⁄16-inch thick. Keep in mind that these bits are jacks of all trades but masters of none they allow you to switch quickly between drilling in a variety of materials and driving fasteners in those same materials. Chuck these multi-material bits into a hammer drill instead to make a hole in brick, concrete, concrete block, mortar, or stone. Note: Don’t use your impact driver to make holes in masonry, which could burn it out. To use them in a drill driver, you tighten the chuck on them as you would a bit with a round shank. To use them in an impact driver, you insert them as you would any other hex shank bit. I employ them in my hammer drill but also in my impact driver. I own a set of them and find them indispensable for making holes in wood, concrete, brick, and mortar. One example is the MP500 bits from Bosch. They are most commonly used to drill in wood and masonry. There are multi-material bits that can drill in all common construction materials except for glass.

Tools that hold masonry bits